Seiji Hojo
Born November 11, 1939 Head of the Shinra Science Department. Holder of multiple PhDs. Certified Grumpy Pants. Early Life Hojo is half-Wutaian with a Midgarian father and Wutaian mother. The youngest of four, and the only son, he had a lot of pressure put on him from an early age. Although raised in Midgar, Hojo speaks fluent Wutaian and is familiar with their customs, beliefs, holidays, and so forth. As the only son, his family had high hopes for him. Initially it was assumed he would become a medial doctor. Although Hojo has enough of the correct education and experience to be a licensed MD, when mako power became the new hot field of research, Hojo expanded his expertise. He became part of the Biologics department which, at the time, was headed by a man named Faremis Gast. Shinra Quiet and somewhat aloof, Hojo preffered the company of books rather than people. Back then, there was a fair bit of racism toward those from the Old Continent, but it was twice as bad from those from farther flung regions such as Wutai. He also chose a somewhat unusual field of study within the Biologics Department; only Professor Gast and a handful of others taking his interests seriously. These few "crackpots" as the rest of the department saw them, consisted of veteran scientist Grimoire Valentine, and two female students; Ifalna Eidel and Lucrecia Crescent. Professor Gast had made a discovery buried in the ice of the Northern Continent. He had found a remarkably intact fossil of what he deemed was the body of a Cetra; an ancient race of humans known for their art, literature, and surprisingly advanced civilization. They were also said to be able to speak to the planet. Furthermore, this Cetra had a name, for she was mentioned repeatedly in the ancient texts. He had not just found a Cetra, he had found their queen: the body of the Empress Jenova. Dr. Valentine and Lucrecia initially were not part of the core team that would become the members of the Jenova Project. Dr. Valentine had his own theories concerning mako and science, and recruited Lucrecia to assist him in his research. However, when Dr. Valentine was killed during an expedition, Lucrecia was added to the team that would be studying the Jenova fossil. Jenova Project Hojo had never considered himself socially savvy. However, he got along reasonably well with his fellow intellectuals. He and Gast did butt heads over various aspects of the project, but there was never any open hostility. The Turk security detail, however, was another story. Hojo saw the "suits" as unnecessary and kind of creepy, especially the tall one who never said anything. Perhaps it was the isolated location, maybe there was natural chemistry, but relationships began to develop among the researchers. Gast and Ifalna had something going on, and to a lesser degree Hojo began to develop a relationship with Lucrecia. He had thought the Turk might be competition- they had known each other before setting out for Nibelheim- but she insisted it wasn't anything serious. Lucrecia and Hojo began to see each other informally and then...Something Happened. In Hojo's words, "events were never formally documented". Regardless, things went on as they had been, though Lucrecia had become very quiet. Hojo saw her with the Turk a few times, which was a bit confusing. Still, if they had been friends prior to the project, there was no reason for them not to associate and so he let it go. A few weeks later, Shinra authorized a proposal that Gast had put forth regarding the resurrection of the Cetra: the Jenova Project. Lucrecia was to be the surrogate; indeed, she was already pregnant. Hojo had his suspicions, but there was no way to confirm anything. Rather than split hairs, he decided to focus on the project and tried to be supportive of Lucrecia. The Turk, it seemed, had other ideas. Lucrecia, it seemed, had spoken to him about her role in the project and he wasn't happy about it. Afraid the Turk was going to let his fists do the talking, Hojo drew his own weapon. The gun went off, hitting Vincent in the shoulder at point-blank range. The shot should have killed him, but between the two of them, Hojo and Lucrecia managed to save Vincent's life if not his arm. With Lucrecia's pregnancy becoming increasingly complicated and the wounded Turk in mako stasis, the project was relocated back to Midgar. Sephiroth Project Sephiroth's success was due more to accident than intent. Hojo had been administering Jenova serum unauthorized to himself in attempt to see what affect her cells would have on an adult. So far as he could observe, the effects were minimal. He continued to administer injections and record his findings, but did not observe anything worth noting until much later. However, because he was already carrying Jenova's cells, Sephiroth was conceived with three parents instead of two, making Jenova as much his mother as Lucrecia. This granted him the physical stability that his friends Angeal and Genesis did not have. Lucrecia gave birth after only seven months. The child- Sephiroth- was born fully-formed, fontanels fused, and weighing nearly ten pounds. Although he was perfectly healthy, his birth cost his mother's life. Lucrecia hemorrhaged, and the Jenova in her son's blood poisoned her own, resulting in toxemia, seizure, and death. Devastated, Hojo immediately put her in a mako pod, hoping to revive her later. She drifted there for over a year before Gast and Ifalna could convince him to lay her to rest. With Gast and Ifalna's help he managed to look after his infant son. Although he felt horribly inept at looking after a child, what he lacked in finesse he made up in effort. He read every parenting book available, and did the best he could despite his own emotional shortcomings. Hojo truly loved his son, he just wasn't terribly sure how to express this. The alien hive queen chewing on his brain didn't help. Jenova became the voice in the back of Hojo's head the first few years of Sephiroth's life, constantly whispering to him. At times she would be encouraging, at others she would sow seeds of doubt in his heart: Sephiroth was not his son, Vincent would kidnap both Lucrecia and Sephiroth if given the chance, Gast was plotting to claim Hojo's academic success as his own, and so on. When Gast and Ifalna left to conduct their own research as a remote site, Jenova was the only source of support Hojo had left. He could often be heard muttering to himself, speaking to Jenova as she whispered to him. Indeed, when Sephiroth asked about his parentage years later, Hojo told him that Jenova was his mother, and did not identify himself as his father. To Hojo, Jenova was alive and beautiful, a second wife who had stepped in to heal the wounds that losing his first wife had left. The reasoning behind not identifying himself was a bit more complicated. Although Sephiroth was his son, he was also the subject of a significant experiment. Professional distance had to be maintained. Personally, Hojo did not feel that he was much of a father, and that it might be better if Sephiroth never know his true parentage. SOLDIER With Gast gone, Hojo became the default head of the department. He had the most education, experience, and seniority, and his son was the primary subject of Shinra's most daring experiment to date. So far as Hojo knew, his son was meant to revive a race of people who were uniquely gifted; technologically advanced for their time, great artists and engineers with a mythical ability on top of everything else: the ability to speak to the Planet. Hojo was excited about the scientific and academic possibilities. Shinra was just in it for the money. When Sephiroth proved unable to communicate with the Planet, rather than scrap the project, it was tweaked. Rather than a Cetra, Sephiroth would become a super-soldier. Hojo became the head of the SOLDIER program and oversaw the physical augmentation of other young men as well as that of his son. He was not the only project head, however. Originally it was suggested that Sephiroth be placed in Deepground with the other early SOLDIERs. Even then, Deepground had a reputation for conducting unethical experiments. Rather than throw him to the wolves, Hojo took it upon himself to train his son to be the perfect killing machine. To say it put a strain on their relationship was a bit of an understatement. Chairman As head of the Science Department, Hojo has complete control over an entire arm of the Shinra empire. He is responsible for the SOLDIER program in ways the army is not, and also oversees many other research projects ranging from DNA augmentation to the study of the Cetra.